


The Great Camelot Snow Festival

by bunnysworld



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Magic, Romance, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 18:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2661476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunnysworld/pseuds/bunnysworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the Great Camelot Snow Festival and Merlin has a little hut stall selling snow globes with a little magic. Across from him, Morgana has her own hut and right next to her, Camelot’s Fire Brigade sells their calendar. When Morgana opens their yearly magic battle, Merlin gets to meet her brother Arthur, who is one of the fire fighters in the calendar. Merlin tries to get his fingers on it without being too obvious. But how?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Camelot Snow Festival

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gilli_ann](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gilli_ann/gifts).



> Thanks to you guys for once again hosting Merlin_holidays, so I could participate! Thanks to issy5209 for the beta. Thanks to texasfandoodler for letting me borrow her hot fire fighters and to viennajones who wrote a snow globe-builder Merlin for me last year. The idea was just too good, I had to use it again ;) 
> 
> Dear Gilli_ann, I hope you like what I did with your prompts. I had so much fun playing with them. Thank you! Happy holidays to you!
> 
> It only occured to me that there might be people around the world who do not know what the Christmas market in my mind looks like since they seem to be different everywhere when issy asked what exactly I meant, you might want to image search for 'Weihnachtsmarkt'. We've had a little discussion about what the booths/little huts/hut stalls might be called (we just call them little huts or little houses or just booths and it all means the same, which is obviously doesn't in English), I settled on little huts or just huts.

Merlin rubbed his hands together and peeked up at the grey December sky. With a bit of luck, those huge clouds would bring snow and the Great Camelot Snow Festival would do its name justice, not like the previous years where they had to call in the magic folk to put snow everywhere. He had enough to do to stock his little hut with all the snow globes he made for the occasion. 

There were little hut stalls all through the old part of Camelot, left and right of the narrow streets that led up to the medieval castle and the Snow Festival drew tourists from all around the world to see the goods offered and to enjoy the special atmosphere this time of year.

Just as Merlin hefted up another crate of his merchandise, he heard a voice from across the small street.

“Hi Merlin!”

He groaned but then grinned. “Morgana! Don’t tell me it’s you again!”

Of course, the organizers of the fest managed each and every year to give Morgana a hut close to his. They had known each other since their kindergarten days where their early education in all things magic had started. They had met in magic class year after year and after some nasty fighting when they were teenagers, they had come to some kind of friendly agreement and since then got along fine. 

“So happy to see me, Merlin? What kind of stuff are you offering this year? Oh, wait, you finally set up a kissing booth, didn’t you?” Morgana teased.

Even though the tips of his ears started to heat up, Merlin nodded. “I’m going to make so much money this year!”

Morgana unlocked the door to her hut. “Good thing that I offer food and drinks. People will rush over to wash the yucky taste of your kisses down.” She grinned widely.

“To poison themselves with your cooking? I doubt that. Are the paramedics anywhere close to us here?” In mock-panic, Merlin looked up and down the street.

“Nope,” Morgana smiled, “but the firefighters will be right here.” She pointed to the little hut next to hers. 

“Interesting.” Wow, that was good news. Camelot’s Fire Brigade was known for their fitness and especially for the yearly calendar they did for charity. At times when business was slow, he could ogle them. “But as much as I like chatting with you, Morgana, I have to get my hut ready.”

“Same here.” Morgana laughed and vanished inside her own little hut.

+++

Throughout the next hours, Merlin was busy setting his merchandise up. It had been a lot of work to shrink all the parts for the scenes in the snow globes and to add that little touch of magic that was needed to make the artificial snow inside fall on its own. Nobody would have to shake the globes and the spell was enough for the white flakes to come down for the next few weeks. Each snow globe came with a coupon to renew the charm after it had worn off and Merlin was a bit proud that he had finally found out the right words. 

When he started experimenting, there were quite a few exploded globes or blizzards inside the globes that tore his carefully set scenes up to make him doubt he would ever get it right. But now the charm was fine-tuned and worked perfectly. And the scab the wound on his cheek had left him with (from that try where the globe exploded in his hand and a sharp piece of plastic had broken his skin) was almost healed, too. 

His mam was right, Merlin thought when he inspected the way he wanted to present his goods, a white cloth underneath would have looked rather sterile, but the dark blue velvet with occasional silver stars on it was quite nice. He would put the charm that put a spotlight on some of them in tomorrow before they opened and everything would be fine. 

A knock at the door startled him. “Morgana?”

“Don’t tell me she’s anywhere near again!” Gwen’s voice was muffled by the door, but when Merlin opened, she snuck in and hugged him. 

“Yes, she is, just across the street.”

“Oh, no!” Gwen pulled her hat a bit deeper onto her head. “What’s she selling this year?”

“Food and drinks, she said, I don’t know if that’s true.” Merlin shrugged.

“What has she done so far?” 

Merlin chuckled. “Nothing. Which is strange, I’m pretty sure she’s already plotting.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “And you are looking forward to it, too! What if I come here and one of her spells runs amok? How am I supposed to work with you here? I’m not magic!”

Remembering the previous years, Merlin couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Each year, he and Morgana entered into a fun battle and most years, Morgana started it with a spell she threw at his hut or his merchandise or himself and he was left to figure out how to break the spell before he could cast one of his own. It had started out with small things that were easy, but as they grew older, they knew how to use magic in a more sophisticated way and it got more difficult to find the key to removing the other’s spell. 

Poor Gwen had been trapped in some of them as she took over when he couldn’t be there, but since the charms never were malicious or did harm, they usually had a good laugh later. 

“Oh Merlin! They are beautiful!” Gwen squealed as she got a closer look at the snow globes, carefully lifting one or the other up. “How do you do that?”

Merlin grinned. “I’m magic?”

“That you are!” She got up on the tips of her toes and kissed his cheek. 

+++

Merlin was able to enter his hut without running into any magic the next day and put the finishing touches to his display before he took care of the outside. The night had brought just enough snow to make Camelot look all wintery and romantic but luckily not enough to keep people from coming. 

When Merlin was happy with the inside, he checked the fir branches and the tiny lights in them on the outside before he opened the hut. Only a few more minutes and the first tourist busses would be unloaded on the big parking lot at the edge of the city and people from all over would swarm the place. 

A heating charm kept his little hut warm and Gwen promised to bring food and drinks later; Merlin was all set and had time for a first look at what the others around him had set up.

There was Morgana who really set up her hut with mulled wine and hot mead and a few edible things that Merlin couldn’t really see but that was starting to smell really good. On one side her hut was flanked by Alice who offered knitted scarfs, hats and gloves. If business would run smoothly, Merlin would go get a new beanie from her, she just made the best ones. 

On the other side of Morgana, the fire fighters had set up their hut with info material, a little TV set that should show a video of them training to extinguish fires, little toy fire trucks, their mascot plush teddy and of course, the calendar they sold every year. Merlin had no idea why those guys had to be so sexy. Could you only fight fires if you were hot yourself? He wasn’t complaining, though, the view was perfect as the tallest of them, stretched to put some lights at the top edge of their hut and his sweater rode up a bit to reveal smooth skin and tight muscles. 

“Good morning, m’boy.”

Merlin beamed at the old man he called uncle. “Gaius! Good morning. Ready for your big speech?”

“Of course. It’s not too different from last year’s. Or the year before.” Gaius chuckled. He opened the festival each year and then functioned as night-watchman/guide to explain the old buildings and the castle, a fun tour that Merlin had listened to since he was a child, always thrilled by the spooky elements and proud to be a citizen of Camelot after hearing about the brave knights and noble kings who once inhibited the old walls.

“This will be my last year.” Gaius announced but Merlin laughed.

“Just like last year or the year before, right?”

They shared a laugh. “Yes, m’boy, like the last ten years. But as long as nobody wants to do the job, I have to keep people informed.”

“Nobody can do it like you, Gaius.”

Gaius smiled and lifted one of the snow globes that had a castle and a little bloke that looked a lot like him in his role as night-watchman. “Save this one for me, would you?”

Merlin smiled. “Sure thing.”

Nodding, the old man raised his hand and then turned to prepare for opening the festival. 

+++

“Merlin! Merlin, you have to come here! I can’t open the lock!” 

After a very ordinary first few days of the festival with people being interested in the snow globes and Merlin having to reproduce a few of them since some scenes were very popular, Gwen was supposed to open today so Merlin could finish a few more globes and join her later. 

“Why? Is the lock frozen? Maybe you can ask the fireguys to help you? I just need another half hour or so and I’ll be with you.”

“No! There’s nothing they can do. Lance said it was magic!” Gwen sounded desperate.

Merlin didn’t question who Lance was and what he knew about magic, but he sighed. “Morgana.”

“Most likely, yes. Come here, Merlin, or we will have to leave the hut shut today.”

Already shrugging into his jacket, trying to find his keys, Merlin still had his mobile pressed to his ear. “What exactly does it do?”

He pulled the plug of his heat gun and made sure everything was safe before he left the house, listening to Gwen’s frantic description of how there seemed to be a force field around the lock and as soon as she tried to stick the key in, the lock flinched away and how in her last attempt, the field had just bend the key and now Lance was sure it wouldn’t fit anyway, even if they managed to get it into the lock.

In his mind, he tried to recall everything they ever learned about force fields and magic shielding as he ran through the streets.

As he reached the hut, Gwen stood there with one of the firefighters and gestured towards the lock. Oh, so that was Lance.

“Merlin!”

“Let me see.”

She handed him the key and he grinned as the magic around it cackled in the cold air. Just as he thought. With a few ancient words the key bend back into its original form and the lock opened. “That was an easy one,” he muttered.

“Impressive.” 

He looked at the fireman with the friendly brown eyes. “It wasn’t that tough. I think that was just her warm-up exercise.”

“Whatever it was, make her stop. I don’t like it when I have to face magic and can’t do anything about it!” Gwen frowned.

“I’ll talk to her brother, maybe he can make her stop.” Lance offered. “And maybe…how about…can I buy you a warm drink or something? To make you feel better?”

While Merlin’s brain was still trying to process the info that Morgana had a brother and wondered why he’d never met him in magic class, he watched Gwen beam at Lance and off they were. Had he just witnessed the beginning of a romance? 

Merlin smiled as he opened up his little hut for business. At least one of them had chances of not being alone on Christmas Eve. 

+++

The weather stayed perfect; snow on the ground, blue skies, it was just cold enough to get a winter-y feeling but not too cold to leave the house, so Merlin had a lot of customers. It definitely helped that he had expanded the heating charm just a bit in front of his hut so people could warm up while they admired the merchandise. 

He didn’t really pay attention to his customers as he kept throwing looks over at Morgana’s hut. It had been a few days since she had magically locked his hut and payback was sweet. Merlin had stayed up all night to find this particular spell and try it out and now all he could do was wait. 

It didn’t take long before Morgana shrieked. “MERLIN!!!!!!!!!”

“Yes, dearest?” Of course he tried to give her the big-eyed look and of course she didn’t buy it for a second.

“Undo this! You’re ruining my business!”

Merlin chuckled. “There’s nothing wrong with your business.”

“MERLIN EMRYS! I can’t sell green and pink sausages! Nobody will buy them!” 

Even from the other side of the road, Merlin could see her eyes shine golden, just like his did when he did magic. It was amusing to see how she tried charm after charm, spell after spell to make the meat on the grill change back to its normal color. 

“But they do look nice and go so well with the purple mead and the blue mulled wine.” Merlin made his way over, snatched a sausage from the grill and bit into it. “It tastes like before,” he said around a mouthful of very hot meat. “Tell them it’s just a Christmas-y coloring.”

People started to gather around Morgana’s hut and Merlin knew he just upped the ante. 

“You!”

Merlin blinked as a tall blond with the bluest eyes he’d ever seen stormed towards him. 

“Stop doing that to my sister! Undo whatever you’ve done! NOW!”

The bloke only stopped a few centimeters in front of him and kept yelling at him.

“Oh, so you must be the ominous brother someone mentioned.” Merlin grinned. “Wonder why I never met you in magic class.”

“Because magic is evil. Undo it and stop doing this to her!”

Merlin would have rather kissed those lips uttering these stupid words. “The translation of this is ‘because I am not magic and have no idea how to help her to maintain the image of the big hero’. Don’t worry, superbrother, we’ve known each other almost all our lives. She does this to me and I do it to her. It’s nothing the other can’t work out, we’ve never gone too far.”

Behind them, Morgana howled in triumph. 

“See, she found the counter-spell. Now go, be a good superbrother and help her sell sausages and mulled wine.” Merlin turned and went back to his hut. If the blond weren’t such a clotpole, he weren’t half bad.

+++

Merlin didn’t hear what was being said, but he saw that the blond was arguing with Morgana behind the mulled wine heater for quite a while, with him frowning more and more and her laughing it off. 

“Guess, you have a new fan.”

“Gwaine! Hi! When did you come in?”

The dark-haired man flicked his hair back. “Percy will be away for the holidays, so he covered my shifts at the beginning of the festival and I will take his at the end of it.”

“He’s the tall one, right?” Merlin threw a look over to the fire fighters’ hut and smiled. Percy was nice, always smiling back, waving when he came in for the day, once or twice even stopping by to chat on his break. 

“Yup, that’s him. But hey, hands off!”

Merlin looked back at Gwaine and smiled. “Okay, I hear you. Good for you. So, who is my new fan if it’s not Percy?”

Gwaine pointed over his shoulder. “See the blond?”

“Morgana’s brother? Did she promise him a red cape for Christmas?”

Laughing, Gwaine nodded. “Not sure about that, but it sure would suit him.” 

“I’m not afraid of him.” Merlin smiled. “I’ve been faced with bigger bullies in my life. And don’t forget, I have magic.” He winked and let little golden stars sparkle around Gwaine’s head with a wave of his hand. 

“Oh, there’s no need to be afraid of him. He’s just jealous that his sister got all the magic in the house and he was left with none. He can be an arse, but he’s one of the best fire fighters I’ve ever met. He’s the one responsible for our calendar, too.”

Merlin nodded. The calendar. The calendar he wanted to get his hands on, but he wouldn’t admit that now. He just didn’t have the time to go over and buy it. And of course he’d had some reservations, too. Gwaine was a friend and even though Percy was off limits now, he couldn’t really go and get the calendar and show to the world that he was getting off on half-naked firemen, could he?

“He’s Mr. October, too.” Gwaine laughed, put a ten pound bill down and took a small snow globe with a really romantic scene out of the display. 

Merlin smiled after his friend and watched how Gwaine put the snow globe into Percy’s hand as he passed him. The tall man blushed when he looked at the scene and after checking if anyone could see them, he went after Gwaine and pressed a smooch on his cheek. 

He’d pondered putting a little charm on the globes that got people together but it hadn’t felt right to do so. That his work had this effect on people anyway put a huge smile on Merlin’s face.

+++

“Hey…Merlin, right?”

Merlin turned halfway, his hand on the lock to his little hut when the blond called out for him. “That’s me.” 

“Listen, the other day…Morgana is my sister and she does all this work for charity, she doesn’t make a single penny with all this, just to annoy our father, but...In fact, she even pays for the stuff with her own money, so…I didn’t think it was fair that you destroyed her food.”

Oh no, was he in for another scolding? Merlin took a deep breath which he let out in a deep sigh.

“But she told me that you just put a coloring spell on it and it took her a while to remove it.”

“You saw me eating one of the sausages. Do you really think I would do something stupid like destroying food?” If the cabbage head weren’t so nice to look at, Merlin would have just left him standing there. 

“I know that now. So…”

“So…” Just as Merlin opened the door at the side of his hut, a wave of snow came out and almost buried him. “Fuck!”

A light giggle came from across the street and the blond tried to help Merlin up. 

“Morgana! Didn’t I tell you to stop this!”

Merlin scrambled up and brushed the snow off his clothes. “Come on, it’s just fun. Like she needed to find the spell to remove the color off her stuff, I have to find the one that makes the snow go away.”

“You…” The man still held his hand and searched his face. “You enjoy this?”

Grinning widely, Merlin nodded. “Of course I do. And so does she.”

“Oh…” Slowly the bloke let go. “You and Morgana…?”

“Are just old friends, I’m not into girls.” Merlin held his breath. But then again, why would someone else care? It wasn’t actually a secret. 

After a moment, the blond asked, “Why don’t you just throw a heating charm and make the snow melt? Your hut had been warm before, hadn’t it?”

“That’s not how it works. You can’t just trick this with a heating charm. I need to find a way to really undo her magic.”

“Or use a huge shovel? We’ve got one over there in our hut.” 

Merlin laughed and shook his head. “It would only come back. You know, this magic is like a very complicated knot. I can’t just cut through it, I need to unweave it.”

“And that’s what you do for a hobby?”

“Some people like to solve Sudokus, I like doing this.” Merlin smiled when he saw the confused look on the man’s face. “You still haven’t told me your name. Or should I call you Mr. October?”

“Arthur…it’s Arthur.” The blond’s face lit up. “You like the calendar?”

Merlin looked at the snow and checked his watch. He would only have about twenty minutes to solve this, but he didn’t want to interrupt his chat with Arthur either. “I haven’t seen it yet. Too busy to get it.”

He didn’t even see that Arthur opened his mouth to say something when he hit his forehead with his flat hand. “How could I not have seen this?” He stared at the snow, held out his hand and let his magic flow to undo the spell Morgana had cast. It wasn’t too easy and one falsely pronounced word would probably let it snow again, but that was the fun of it. Carefully he undid string after string of magic and all of a sudden, the snow disappeared from the inside of his hut. “Here we go.” He turned and grinned at Arthur, who was still standing there, watching. 

“Okay, I think I should…” Arthur pointed over his shoulder to the hut of the fire fighters.

Merlin smiled at him. “See you around?” 

+++

Gwen helped Merlin rearrange the snow globes as they heard commotion from across the street. 

“Oh no, Merlin! What have you done now?”

He tried to give Gwen one of his innocent look, but couldn’t help but grin. “Me? N…something?”

“Do I need to go see for myself?”

“Maybe you should.” Merlin pretended to be busy with unpacking new snow globes and putting a few that seemed to get overlooked a bit more into the front as Gwen crossed the street and then came back laughing.

“Merlin Emrys, one day she’ll hit you so hard with a spell that you won’t see it coming. But this one’s fun. You should see her chasing the sausages around on the grill! And the burgers hopping away each time she comes near with the tongs or the spatula…that’s just hilarious!”

He put a little smooch on her temple. “It’s just fun coming up with stuff like that and see her undo it.”

“Are you sure she will be able to undo it?” Gwen pulled the zipper of her coat up.

Nodding, Merlin smiled. “We’ve grown up together, magically so to speak. I know very well what she can do and she is rather good at judging my powers, so we won’t do anything that the other can’t undo. But…why are you putting your gloves on? Should I throw another heating charm?”

Was that a blush on Gwen’s cheeks? 

“Lance will take me for a hot chocolate and to see the big carousel that they only set up now down by the lake. Is that okay for you? Do you need me here?”

“So things are going well? That’s nice to hear. Go on, have fun. And right on time, here he comes. Hi Lance.”

The other man nodded in greeting. “Hello. Are you ready, Gwen?”

Merlin felt a little ignored, but that was okay as soon as he saw the happy smile on his best friend’s face. “Have fun, you two!”

Darn, the crowd that had gathered around Morgana’s hut left, which could only mean one thing: She had undone his magic and the sausage and burgers were what they had always been – plain sausages and burgers. He’d missed the moment she had solved the riddle, too bad. 

After talking to some customers, explaining how he made the snow globes and that yes, it was actually magic, real genuine magic that made the snow swirl on its own, Merlin was in a good mood. This Snow Festival was going great and he had a lot of fun with his magic battle with Morgana and with ogling the firefighters.

He didn’t even notice when one of them stepped up to his hut when business slowed down a bit. “Hi.”

“Oh, err…hi Arthur.” Merlin smiled. 

“That was a pretty neat trick you pulled on Morgana there.” Arthur grinned.

It probably made no sense to explain that it wasn’t a ‘trick’ but Merlin chuckled. “Gwen seemed to have a lot of fun.”

“Here, I brought you something.” 

Merlin blinked at Arthur held out a mug of hot chocolate out to him. “Oh…thank you.” That wasn’t…was that Morgana’s revenge? He tried to feel for magic, but the mug seemed pretty innocent.

“Got it over there at Harold’s hut. He makes the best hot chocolate in town, I think.”

Wrapping his fingers around it, Merlin took a sip. “Mmmm, so true. Thank you.”

“Err…” Arthur looked at some of the snow globes. “You know…I wondered…”

Merlin looked at him. Of course he had watched Arthur at the firefighters’ hut. He seemed to be the type of man who could get into a conversation with everyone, confident and strong in what he was telling them, convincing them that donating for the fire brigade was the best thing ever. That he was almost fidgeting now was interesting.

“We’re having a fire extinguishing demo later. Maybe you want to come see it?”

Merlin blinked. “Are you going to set the town on fire?”

Arthur laughed. “The guys are setting everything up at the other side of the lake, safely away from the town.”

“When will you light it?” Merlin didn’t mind watching the firefighters in action. That would give him good wanking material for some time later. “Gwen’s out with Lance, I can’t leave the hut alone.”

“It’s scheduled for later, when the huts are closed and only the ones down by the lake still sell food and drinks. So…are you interested?”

It seemed very important to Arthur and Merlin thought it was a nice gesture that he came over to invite him – aside from bringing him a hot chocolate. “Sure. I should be there by 8.30? Is that on time?”

“Perfect!” Arthur’s smile was almost blinding. “See you there!”

Merlin looked after him as Arthur walked back to the fire brigade’s hut.

When he turned back to his merchandise, Morgana gave him two thumbs up from across the street. What was that supposed to mean? He was going to the firefighters’ demo, it was not like they had set that up especially for him, right?

+++

Wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck and ducking his head between his shoulders, Merlin hurried through the almost empty streets. He had some very demanding customers just as he wanted to close for the night but it had gotten him a couple of new orders. If he didn’t hurry now, he would be late for the demo. Even though he tried to convince himself that it wouldn’t be too bad, he really wanted to see the guys in action. 

He arrived just on time to see Gwaine and Percy explain and demonstrate the use of a household fire extinguisher. It wasn’t the worst thing to attend. Merlin had one of these in his house, too, but had never taken the time to familiarize himself with it. 

At the other side of the space that was roped off, Leon showed the crowd what happened if you tried to extinguish a fire in a pan with fat with water. People ooooohed and shrieked when a darting flame shot up into the night sky and clapped when Leon just put a lid on the pan and let it sit there for a while before showing that the fire had died. 

Merlin’s eyes searched for Arthur and finally saw him in the back, preparing something at an old wrecked car. He was in his full firefighting outfit and even though the pants and jacket weren’t very becoming, Merlin swallowed. He looked mighty fine like that. Maybe he should get the calendar first thing tomorrow?

The others removed their props and put on their helmets and gloves while Lance explained that as the highlight of their demonstration, they would show how they extinguished a burning car. 

Just as he said it, the car was on fire and Arthur started barking orders. It wasn’t so much the fire that made Merlin stare at the scene. The guys he knew as a laid back bunch sprang into action, the concentration and focused tension was very interesting to watch. It almost looked like a well-rehearsed ballet of the firefighters. Everybody knew exactly what they were supposed to do and went through it with practiced ease. When the fire was out and the guys started to put their gear away, Merlin found himself applauding with the other spectators. 

The men came over and talked to everyone who had questions, they took photos with kids and explained why it was so important to keep the equipment well-maintained. 

Arthur still wore his helmet when he came over. “Did you like it?”

“It sure looked very professional.”

“That sounds like you are impressed by that fact!”

Merlin laughed. “Not at all. You’re doing a great job and it really looked dangerous when the car suddenly was in flames.”

“So…how about…I don’t know…we always need donations.” Arthur winked.

“That’s why you asked me here! To get my money! Tell you what. I’ll try to get little fire trucks that fit into the snow globes and make a couple for you to sell, how does that sound?”

“No, it’s not why I asked you here. I’m happy that you came.” Arthur smiled. “And that’s a brilliant idea! I see every day how fast your stuff sells, people love it!”

Merlin smiled. It was additional work this close to the holidays, but if it helped fund the brigade, he was fine with it. “Okay, then. I’ll see what I can do. But now I really have to go home. I got a couple of difficult orders just before I came here, I need to check out a few things.”

Arthur’s face fell. “I thought we could…oh, but business is more important.”

Merlin’s heart was speeding up a little. So he hadn’t been all wrong thinking that Arthur asked him to come see the demo so they could probably spend a bit more time. “I’d love to. The timing is just bad. Maybe we could…whatever you wanted to suggest…some other time?”

Nodding, the smile returned to Arthur’s face. “Of course.”

“You know…I still haven’t seen the carousel everybody talks about and I haven’t been on Uncle Gaius’ night tour around the old part of the town in years and…,” he shrugged but grinned, “…the ice rink is still open when we close up our huts…”

“Arthur!” Percy yelled from the other side. “Are you coming sometime today or do we have drag all this stuff back to the station alone?”

“I think they need me there…” Arthur made a face. “We’ll talk tomorrow?”

“Sure.” 

Merlin smiled all the way home.

+++

Morning came way too soon and Merlin yawned widely as he neared his hut. He’d been up most of the night to figure out what to do about the extra wishes some customers had and to find fire truck toys small enough so it wouldn’t be too much work to shrink them to fit them into the snow globes. It had been almost 3 am when he finally ordered some online and shut the computer down.

He knew he should have called Gwen and asked her to take over for him so he could get a few more hours of sleep, but she had left with Lance last night. She might not even have been home and it wasn’t fair to her to chase her out into the cold just because he had overdone it the night before. 

As he opened up his hut and renewed the heating charm, so he could take off his beanie and gloves, Gwaine came over.

“Here.” He held out a large envelope.

“What’s that?” Merlin looked from the envelope to Gwaine and back. 

“Your copy of our calendar.”

“My…I didn’t order one.” Damn, why did he blush now? Merlin could feel his cheeks heat up.

Gwaine groaned. “We all know that you’re practically dying to get your hands on it. But with you and Arthur now…”

“Me and Arthur?”

Laughing, Gwaine just put the envelope on top of the snow globes. “The amount of eye sex going on here in the past days is unbelievable. Then he asks you to come to the demo. And you show up and agree to go out with him….come on, don’t tell me that you’re not interested.”

“Well…,” Merlin couldn’t help but smile, “he was an arse in the beginning but he seems to be pretty nice.”

“He’d kill me if he knew I’m telling you this, but he has a crush the size of New York City. I’ve never seen him so giddy about anyone else before.”

Merlin blushed harder. “Right, you probably shouldn’t tell me this. But…why do you give me the calendar now?”

Gwaine laughed. “So you can look at what you’ll get. Or maybe find someone more interesting.” He tossed his hair back, winked again and made his way over to flirt with Morgana, as he did with everyone. 

Merlin stared at the envelope. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t tried to picture Arthur naked in the past days. But just look at the photo? That seemed so…it would totally take away the surprise. If it ever got to the point where he could see Arthur naked. Maybe they’d just find out that they had nothing in common and wouldn’t even get that far. Merlin took the envelope and stored it away.

The morning was surprisingly busy and when Gwen showed up, Merlin noticed it was already 2 in the afternoon. 

“Here you go, loverboy.” She took a large thermos out of her bag and then found a plastic bowl, too. “Pea soup, made from the recipe your mom gave me.”

“Thanks!” Merlin’s stomach started to grumble. “And right on time!”

“So, how was your date with Arthur?”

Merlin was already about to shovel the soup into his mouth and coughed on a spoonful. “My what?”

“Oh, come on, it took him two days to ask you to the demo and planned all those things he wanted to do with you later.”

“Things?” The spoon hung in mid-air, forgotten, as Merlin stared at Gwen.

“Yeah, the romantic stuff. Like…the carousel and getting hot chestnuts and roasted almonds. Looking at the lights?”

“He…he planned that? How would you know?”

“Eat your soup, Merlin. Lance told me. There’s obviously hardly anything else Arthur talks about all day but you.”

Merlin sat down on the little stool they had there. “It took him two days?”

“Yup.” Gwen beamed. “Isn’t it wonderful, Merlin? We both will have someone to cuddle up to for the holidays.”

“It took him two days to ask me…and I brush him off talking about customers and the idea I had for the fire brigade…” 

“You did what????”

That would explain why Arthur never looked over when he was. He really hadn’t meant to…he hadn’t thought that Arthur was so serious about their little flirt. 

Merlin recounted the events to Gwen and she just shook her head. “Sometimes you’re so much in your own world that you don’t even notice when someone likes you.”

“I’m…I’m just not used to someone meaning it.” He bit his lower lip. 

Gwen hugged him, knowing very well that Merlin liked to flirt but was still deeply hurt over how Will had ditched him two years ago. “He means it. Morgana said he never flirts when he doesn’t mean it. And that he’s horrible at it.” She grinned as she let go. “Seems like you two are a perfect pair. One bad at flirting, the other needing a friendly slap with a clue-by-four.” She giggled. 

“Do you think I blew it? He didn’t look over the whole morning?”

“He does at this very moment. As a matter of fact, he’s coming over here.” She grinned. “Hi Arthur!”

“Hi.” 

“Hi, Arthur!” Merlin tried his best shy-but-reassuring smile. He’d have liked a bit more time to think about everything he had learned in the past hours. First Gwaine tells him that Arthur had a huge crush on him and now Gwen confirmed it, having heard it not only from Lance but from Morgana, too. 

“About what you said last night…” Arthur pulled a plush teddy in a firefighter’s uniform from behind his back. The teddy was even wearing a red helmet. “I thought…maybe you could not only put fire trucks in the snow globes, but Teddy, too?” He held it out to Merlin.

“Aw, he’s so cute!” Gwen crooned and it wasn’t clear if she meant the toy or Arthur.

“Yeah…” Carefully, Merlin took the teddy and smiled at it. “He might be a bit too big to be shrunk, but maybe I’ll find something similar online to…”

“No! Teddy is our mascot. We can’t just put any bear in a fire fighter uniform into the globes.” 

Merlin smiled. “Can I keep this one? I need to try a few charms before I can give it a go.”

Arthur nodded. “It’s for you, yes.”

“Okay. Oh, hey, I ordered some fire trucks last night. Before I work them in, I’ll show you so you can decide which ones are the closest to your engines?”

“Good idea.” Arthur waved and went back to their hut.

Gwen groaned. 

“What now?” Merlin threw her an annoyed look.

“What more do you need? A bunch of red roses and candy in a heart-shaped box?”

“Huh?”

“He just gave you a teddy bear! And a really cute one, too!”

“That’s just for the business idea we’ve had!” Merlin looked at the toy. Gwen was right, it was a really cute one, if you were into these kinds of things.

She pushed him down on the stool. “Eat your soup before it gets cold. Maybe it’ll let you think better, too and you finally start noticing things.”

+++

“You can’t mean that, young man!”

Merlin blinked at an elderly lady who had bought a snow globe about half an hour ago. “How can I help you?”

“This!” She shoved the globe into his hands. “This is…I don’t even have words for it!”

Merlin looked at it and groaned. Morgana! Instead of the snow gently falling down on the scenery with the deer in the woods, there were little cats and dogs swirling around. It was literally raining cats and dogs inside this snow globe! Merlin tried not to laugh. The woman standing in front of him was angry enough as it was. 

“I’m not paying you that much money for this thing to turn into something horrible that I can’t show Ethel!”

Not questioning who Ethel might be, Merlin nodded. “I fully understand. I’m really sorry. You got caught in a little magical duel between the lovely young lady across the street and me. Let me see what I can do about it.” He examined the snow globe and when he found the spell, he grinned. 

He gave the lady the full show with glowing eyes and loudly spoken words, outstretching his hand and trying to be the most magical being she had ever seen. Since he was probably the only magic being the woman had ever encountered, he wanted her thoroughly impressed. 

Smiling sweetly as he gave the snow globe back, he bowed a little before her. “Here you go. It’s snowing again and I promise you that this won’t happen again.”

“I sure hope so.” She didn’t even look at the snow globe but stared at him in awe. “You really are magic.”

“Thank you.” 

The artificial smile slid off his face the moment she turned and walked away and Merlin started to search his merchandise for more magic. Morgana had caught each and every single one of the snow globes and as Merlin looked at them, he started to laugh. Leave it to Morgana to make it snow pickles in one of the globes and frogs in another. There were a few where it was raining cats and dogs like in the one he’d just fixed and in that scene with the barn it snowed cows! What made him laugh the loudest was probably the one where the things swirling around and flomping unceremoniously to the ground looked a lot like little heaps of dog poop. 

“Ew!” Gwen wrinkled her nose in disgust. 

“Come on, Gwen, it’s funny, admit it!”

She shook her head. “Only you…”

+++

At night, Merlin had taken his calendar and the teddy along and since Arthur was nowhere to be seen, went home to work on the fire truck snow globes that had just arrived.

Once again, he worked late into the night until he finally found a charm that made the fire on the little house in the background look real as the truck approached and started to extinguish the fire. He wasn’t happy with all of it, though.

“Do I want too much?” He looked at the plush toy that had been watching all of his efforts.

“I mean, is this enough? Do you think Arthur will like it? Or should I just take the flakes and make them little flames and let them rain down?”

Of course, teddy just looked the same like before and said nothing. Merlin sighed. “You’re no big help, you know?”

It was 1 am and he rubbed his eyes. “Let’s go watch some TV before I go to sleep, should we?”

Teddy didn’t object, so he took him along to the living room and placed him on the back of his couch. 

+++

Gwen had opened up the hut an hour ago when Merlin finally walked down the street.

“Good one, Morgana!” He grinned as he passed her hut.

“You kept the one with the poo, didn’t you?” She grinned back and nodded when he didn’t comment. “Knew you would like that one.”

Merlin waved at Gwen but went to the fire brigade’s hut. 

“Morning!”

“Hey, Merlin! What brings us the honour of your visit?” Percy smiled widely. “Did you like our calendar?” He winked.

“Didn’t have time to look at it. I’ve been working on these.” He pulled the two versions of the snow globe out of the pockets of his coat. “Where’s Arthur?”

“Right here. I just got breakfast for everyone. Care for a pastry?”

Merlin blinked as he turned. He hadn’t thought Arthur would go get stuff for others. Send someone and pay for it, yes, but…this was sweet. “Thanks, but no, I just had breakfast. But maybe you could rescue my grumbling stomach later in the day with…I don’t know…something else?”

Arthur smiled. “Okay, I’ll think of something.”

Merlin showed him the snow globes. “These are just prototypes. I wanted to see if this is what you had in mind or if I have to change anything.”

Percy held them both up and looked at them, a wide smile on his face. “They are perfect! Look, Arthur, it’s raining fire in this one!”

Arthur took them and examined them. “You’ve outdone yourself. Percy’s right, they are perfect.”

Smiling, Merlin shoved his hands into his pockets. “How many do you think you might need? And how fast?”

“A hundred!” Percy said. “Tomorrow.”

Arthur laughed. “That would be neat. But we can’t expect Merlin to work all through the night. How long does it take to make one?”

“Depends. The first ones always take longer. But the more of the same kind I make, the faster I get.” Then Merlin had an idea. “If I had help, it would go a bit faster.” He looked at Arthur and his stomach did funny things. 

Before Percy could offer, Arthur nodded. “When should I be over?”

Merlin worried his lower lip with his teeth. Had he just invited Arthur to his home? What would he expect? He didn’t want to appear like he just asked anyone in and jumped their bones then. But if they really could work together… “Let me talk to Gwen. If she can take care of the hut all day today, I could go home and prepare a few things and you could drop by any time you get out of here?” 

“Sounds great.” 

Merlin ran over to his own hut and explained to Gwen what he planned and luckily, she didn’t have any plans for the day. 

He almost ran home and for the first time in ages, he used his magic to clean the place. Usually, he was against using it for something as normal as cleaning, but this was an emergency. For two weeks, he’d run out in the morning only to come back cold and hungry at night with new orders or having to make new merchandise since the snow globes were selling like crazy. Since he didn’t know when Arthur would show up, he didn’t have enough time and he really needed to prepare a few things. There was no need for Arthur watching him shrink the toy fire engines, that was probably boring, and he needed to think of what exact jobs he would appoint to Arthur.

Just as he was done shrinking the toys and setting everything up so two people could use his small work area, the doorbell rang.

Merlin took a deep breath before opening. It had been ages since he last had someone over he was interested in. But Arthur was here for the snow globes, they needed to work. And maybe they could talk and he would find out a bit more about him. 

“Hi.”

“Hello.” Arthur smiled and held up a bottle of red wine and a little slip of paper.

“What’s that?” Merlin stepped aside to let Arthur in. 

“The number of my favorite pizza place. I thought if we get hungry, we can give them a call so we don’t have to interrupt…whatever we are doing by going out for food?”

“Good thinking!” Merlin took Arthur’s coat and hung it on the rack. “This way to the work area.” He pointed. “Do you want to open that wine just now or can I get you something else?”

“A Coke or something would be fine. I thought we’d save the wine to go with the pizza. If you like pizza, that is.”

Merlin laughed. “Everybody likes pizza!” He handed Arthur a bottle of Coke and a glass. “I already started and shrunk about twenty fire trucks and little houses. Thought it might bore you to watch me doing magic.”

Arthur didn’t comment and Merlin just walked over to where he had set up his stuff. 

“What do you want me to do?”

“How about…do you know how to handle a glue gun? You could put the little houses and trees on the platforms while I mix the water with the little flame thingies or the snow?”

Arthur pulled up a little stool and rubbed his hands together, looking around on the desk. “Sounds good. Let’s get started.”

While they worked, they talked and Merlin found out he really liked talking to Arthur. He might come from a totally different background, but he seemed to be one of the good ones. 

When they were had about two thirds of the snow globes done, the food they had ordered before arrived and Merlin stretched. “We should let them sit and dry for a while anyway. Let’s go eat.”

Arthur followed him into the kitchen. “When will you do the magic to make it snow? Or rather…rain fire? Or whatever you have to do?”

Opening the wine bottle and setting out plates and glasses, Merlin didn’t know what to say. “I thought you hated magic?”

“What makes you think that?”

“You said that magic is evil.”

“Oh, that.” Arthur stepped close. “I thought you did magic that Morgana couldn’t fight. She always did that to me as a kid. I hated her for doing it.”

“That’s mean.”

“And you’re not a mean one.” 

Shivers ran down Merlin’s spine when he looked into Arthur’s eyes. “I don’t think so, no.”

“It was really hot to watch you remove the snow and to fix the snow globe of that lady.”

Merlin held his breath when Arthur leaned in closer. His magic turned Arthur on? Even though he had some bad run-ins with magic in the past? “Is it…just my magic?”

Arthur closed his eyes and groaned. “No. It’s you.” He pulled back a bit. “But…you’re not interested.”

“I am!” Merlin blurted out, mentally slapping himself for ruining the moment. “I’m just not good with these things.”

“These things?”

“Flirting and…noticing if someone likes me and I’m really clumsy when I like someone. Which probably explains why I knocked the water with the snowflakes over and almost burned myself with the heat gun and mmmmpf….” Merlin would have babbled on but he definitely liked the way Arthur shut him up with a kiss. So he wrapped his arms around him and held on tight. He hadn’t kissed anyone in years, but this was the best kiss he’d ever gotten, he just knew. At first, Arthur was gentle and careful, feeling his way, but then he got more demanding and it didn’t take long and they were snogging like their lives depended on it. 

“Whoa…” Merlin knew he sounded as breathless as he was. 

Arthur smiled. “That was a good ‘whoa’, right?”

“A very good ‘whoa’ indeed.” Merlin grinned. 

“So, what are we going to do with that now?” A smirk tugged at the corner of Arthur’s mouth.

Merlin threw the unfinished snow globes a look. “That depends on how quickly you need those.”

Sighing deeply, Arthur put another quick kiss on Merlin’s lips before he pulled back. “Tell you what, we’re going to finish these fuckers now and then…” He wiggled his eyebrows and made Merlin laugh. 

“Alright. Work first, pleasure later.” Merlin blushed a bit when he realized what he’d just said.

+++

 

Gwaine leaned against the hut, a paper coffee cup in his hand and grinned. 

“What?” Merlin set the crate with the snow globes for the fire brigade down, pulled a few out and tried to concentrate on his magic.

“Was it that good last night?”

“What do you mean?” Feeling his ears starting to heat up, Merlin pretended to be busy with getting the little particles inside one of the globes to swirl.

“You’re smiling like you’ve had a very good night. Either you finally looked at our calendar or you got to see the real thing.” Gwaine grinned even wider.

“Nope, I didn’t.” Merlin’s eyes flashed golden as he started to work.

Gwaine watched. “Look at the calendar or get some?”

Working on the second globe, Merlin just threw Gwaine a look. “Neither, nor.” But then he couldn’t help grinning. 

They had gone back to working and only interrupted when their food was delivered. Sitting on the couch, having some wine and excellent pizza, they talked and Merlin found out a few things about Arthur that he really liked. He was determined and very loyal to his friends and with everything Merlin heard from him, he liked him even more. Instead of continuing their snogging, they had gone back to finishing the snow globes and it was midnight before Merlin declared he couldn’t do all the magic to make the snow or whatever was inside fall or swirl, he was just too tired. After another toe-curling kiss, Arthur said good-night and left. 

Merlin couldn’t get the smile off his face. For the first time in ages, there was someone he wanted to spend more time with. “Where’s Arthur today?”

Gwaine laughed. “I thought you could tell me?”

“Nope. We’ve been working on these,” Merlin pointed at the globes, “and it got late, so he went home.”

“What?” Percy just came in. “He left?” The tall man groaned. 

“Yup, he left.” Merlin’s eyes flashed golden once more and then he was done with the last globe. “Here you go, put them on display and make lots of money for the fire brigade.”

“You’re kidding. Arthur didn’t just leave, did he?” Gwaine frowned.

Merlin shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “He did. We were working on the globes until late and we both were tired.”

“So you two aren’t…?” Percy threw him a concerned look.

“That is definitely none of your business, Perce.” Arthur came in, stomped the snow off his boots and beamed when he saw Merlin. 

Merlin blushed and smiled back. “Look, the globes are done, you can sell them now.”

Gwaine groaned and shook his head as the two of them engaged in a discussion if the fire brigade could charge a bit more for the globes than Merlin did for his because it was a charitable cause. 

+++

“What?” Merlin felt Gwen glaring at him.

“I hear you did nothing all night but work?”

Sighing, Merlin turned to look at her. “Not that it’s any of your business, but we also snogged.”

“And then went back to work?”

“Yes. We had these globes to finish. And if I am not mistaken, they’ll sell like crazy and make lots of money for the new equipment of the fire brigade.”

Gwen looked at him sadly. “That wasn’t the point, you know?”

“To be able to sell some globes so they can finally replace a few things at the fire station isn’t the point?”

“Merlin,” she put her hand on his arm, “it’s so obvious that you like Arthur and Arthur likes you, too. Go, do something about it before he gives up and finds someone else.”

Merlin was alarmed. “What did you hear?”

“Nothing, really. It’s just that the guys said…”

“The guys?”

“Yeah, Lance and Gwaine and Percy and Leon and…”

“I know the firefighters’ names. What did they say?” Maybe it had been a mistake to keep on working and not just kiss some more on the couch.

“They joke about Arthur dying of frustration any time soon.”

Merlin chuckled. “You know that guys will tell you anything to get it on with you, right? Like that they can die from not being allowed to come. It might be new to you, but that’s not true. Nobody ever died of a bad case of blue balls.”

Gwen rolled her eyes and slapped his upper arm. “Not what I mean, Merlin. Just…do something.”

“I wouldn’t know when.” Merlin got serious again. “The hut is open for so long during the day and we’re all tired in the evening and there’s new orders all the time and…”

“I’m sure you could take one evening off. One evening, Merlin! It might make you happy for the rest of your life.”

“Now you’re being overly dramatic.” Merlin pretended to be busy adjusting the heating charm in their little hut. 

Gwen sold a small snow globe to a girl and then turned back to him. “I’ll stay all day. You go and ask him out.” She looked sternly at him.

Merlin swallowed hard. “You’d do that?”

“Yes. Lance has the shift until 10 pm, so I have the day to myself. I’ll stay here and sell your snow globes. Don’t you dare to come back before we have to close up!”

Pulling his beanie over his ears and fiddling for his gloves, Merlin made his way over to the fire brigade’s hut. The guys were grinning at him and giving Gwen on the other side of the street thumbs-up. He should have known that they were all working together.

+++

It was the best day Merlin had had in ages. He hadn’t even really asked Arthur to spend the rest of the day with him when Arthur already agreed. They’d wandered through the streets, looking at the other hut stalls’ merchandise and finally ended up by the lake where they’d rented ice skates and had fun chasing each other around the make-shift rink. They’d warmed up later, their hands wrapped around mugs of hot chocolate, sharing a very chocolate-y kiss. Then they went for a ride on the carousel and didn’t care at all that they were the oldest ones to ride the old wooden horses. They had shared candy almonds and some mulled wine as they wandered around. Slowly, the huts were closing and the day drew to an end.

“That was fun.” Merlin smiled widely. “Unfortunately, I need to go close up now and send Gwen home.”

Arthur nodded but before he could take a deep breath to say something, Merlin added, “I…how about we go on Uncle Gaius’ tour tomorrow?”

“Sounds good. I haven’t been on that tour in forever, but it’s usually sold out months in advance, isn’t it?”

They reached the little street where Merlin’s and the fire brigade’s hut were located.

“I’ll give him a call. I’m pretty sure that he will make an exception for us.”

Stopping in front of Merlin’s hut, they both didn’t really know what to say.

“Thank you for this wonderful day.” Merlin felt himself blushing. 

“No, thank you. I didn’t have so much fun in ages. I might feel every bone in my body since I haven’t been on skates in years, but it was fun.” Arthur smiled.

“Someone who’s fit as you? I’m sure I’ll be the one who won’t be able to move tomorrow.” Merlin chuckled. “So…,” he turned serious again, “I’ll…see you tomorrow?” 

Arthur made a face. “I have the early shift. I can only make it here when you close down.”

“I’ll just call 999 when I miss you.” Merlin bit his lower lip. 

Arthur leaned in. “Do that.” He kissed Merlin softly. “See you tomorrow night, then.”

Merlin felt like he was floating when he turned back to his hut. He hadn’t even realized that people had been watching them. People like Gwen and everyone from the fire brigade who was still there. Gwen hugged him tight and they could hear the fire fighters’ wolf whistles from the other side of the street and even Morgana, who was about to close up, too, smiled at him. 

+++

“…and now we are standing in what is believed to have been the chambers of King Arthur and his servant Merlin.” Gaius was in full entertainment mode. 

Arthur grinned at Merlin. “Servant?”

“Not in this life!” Merlin chuckled and then turned back to listen to what Gaius was telling them and the other twenty participants of the tour. He was talking about how there wasn’t such a huge age difference between the king of legends and his warlock as legend tried to make people believe and that they were very close. Some believed that Arthur loved Merlin just as much as he loved his queen, even though on a different level and that they were best friends and even though Merlin was officially just a lowly servant, the king appreciated his advice and finally made him court sorcerer. It didn’t escape Merlin that Gaius threw them looks now and then, a knowing smile on his face. 

“I feel all royal now,” Arthur whispered when the tour ended and everyone applauded Gaius and handed him generous tips, knowing that the old man would not keep a single pound but give it all to charity. 

“Don’t let that go to your head!” Merlin laughed. 

They walked down the street from the castle and Merlin ducked his head between his shoulders. He walked a bit faster, it was cold and the night looked like new snow. 

“Merlin?”

“Hmm?”

“Could you…,” Arthur reached for his arm and stopped him.

Merlin looked at Arthur questioningly. 

“You know, all the things Gaius said about the epic bromance of the king and his servant…and we have the same names and you are even magic…”

“I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation, Arthur.” 

“That’s not what I…I mean…it sounded so sad that they wasted their lives not being together. I…I don’t think…”

What was Arthur hinting at? Merlin cocked his head and stomped from one foot to the other, digging his hands further into the pockets of his coat. 

“I don’t want to be them, you know?”

Merlin blinked and stopped all movement. “What do you mean?”

“I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but…I really like you. I’d really like to be with you.” Arthur looked everywhere but at Merlin.

It took Merlin a moment before he thought he understood. “You…you want to be my boyfriend?”

Arthur threw him a hurt look. “No need to sound so…so…”

Merlin couldn’t help but laugh. “I thought that was a given? I mean…I might not have used that word so soon, but…” He leaned in and kissed Arthur softly. 

Wrapping his arms around Merlin and kissing back, Arthur pulled Merlin close and neither of them noticed the red, sparkling heart above their heads that Merlin would have identified as Morgana’s doing if he had a thought to spare. 

+++

 

They discovered the magic eventually but this was one charm that Merlin didn’t want to remove. He was in love and wanted the whole world to know, even though everyone insisted they knew from the beginning.

The Great Camelot Snow Festival was over and they spent the holidays curled up in Merlin’s place and about a year later, Arthur asked Merlin to move in with him since he had the bigger apartment. 

Teddy was the first one to move in and made his new home on the back of Arthur’s couch.

As Merlin set up his new work space in a spare room, he pulled a large envelope out of one of the boxes that he hadn’t seen in months. He smiled. He got to see his ‘Mr. October’ each and every day now and he had been there when Arthur had his photo shoot for next year’s calendar, he didn’t need to look at this year’s calendar. Something made him pull the calendar out anyway. He could hang the calendar up and leave it on October all the time here in his workplace.

Merlin smiled as he leafed through the calendar. All those men, whom he had admired from afar for so long, were his friends now and none of them seemed as attractive as the one he woke up next to each morning. He looked at their photos and yes, they all were very sexy, but none of them was Arthur. 

When he finally reached the month of October, Merlin took a deep breath. It wasn’t only a very hot photo of Arthur - and if he was honest, he was a bit jealous that everyone who had spent the twenty pounds got to see so much of his boyfriend – Arthur had written something on it, too. “Would you go out with me?” in bold black letters. 

“What are you laughing about?” Arthur entered the room and came over to see what Merlin was holding. “Oh…”

“I’m really dense, aren’t I? It would have been so much easier if I just looked at the photos the moment Gwaine brought this thing over.” Merlin put the calendar down and wrapped his arms around Arthur’s waist. 

“You hadn’t seen it?”

“No, this was the first time I even took it out of the envelope.”

Arthur groaned. “For days I thought you weren’t interested!”

Smiling, Merlin pulled Arthur closer. “Oh, I’m interested. I was, I still am and I always will be very interested.” 

Without another word, Arthur pressed a kiss on Merlin’s lips, took him by the wrist and dragged him along to their bedroom, stopping under all the mistletoe they had hung in every doorway.


End file.
